AWARDS! THIS FRIDAY OCTOBER 17!

Our annual Awards Party will be held this Friday October 17th, 6 PM, at the Miles River Yacht Club. Skippers, crews, family and friends are all welcome.

MRYC will offer pulled chicken/pork BBQ, with trimmings, for $10 per person (cash, check, house charge only).

WNR will provide a keg of beer, other drinks are available at the cash bar.

The Star fleet will provide oysters.

Participants are welcome to bring side dishes or desserts.

A rough headcount would be appreciated, please email Mariana (sailinggal71@gmail.com)

Awards Party Oct 17th

Remember that the Awards Party is October 17th, 6 PM, at the Miles River Yacht Club.

General idea: The Club provides a main course for $10; you bring a side dish, or dessert, WNR buys a keg; and there is a cash bar!

Trophies are being printed as we speak.

See you soon!

One Last Look

Hi Everyone,

One last look at the season standings before we go to press!

See the season >HERE<

What could be wrong?

• You did mark boat and I didn't know you did it.
• You did your Man Overboard drill and I didn't get it.
• I messed up.

It's pretty much all possible.  Let me know if you see an error.

Remember - October 17th 6PM is the awards party!

Results from 10/1

We have come to the end of another great year of racing on the Miles River. That can only mean one thing - time for Awards!

If you all remember your notice of race, you will remember that the Awards party is planned for October 17th, 6 PM,  at the Miles River Yacht Club.

That's right. The date is planned and we're ready to go. More information on the festivities will follow.

So how was our last night of racing? Just Fabulous! We finally had winds from the north and the temperature was quite pleasant. We were particularly excited to see so many people dress up for the last evening of racing. It's a tradition that goes back many years and the best dressed crew wins the coveted plaid jacket.

The wind shifted about 10º to the left right after we started the sequence, but at least the wind strength stayed up until the finish. Most boats made it across with some wind.  I don't think the Stars all made it back to the Club before the wind completely fell out. Not much daylight left for us to have a long course, so it was a nice quick race to end up the year.

Congratulations go out to Kimber Rosswork and crew in the A class and Alan Campbell driving Maddie (with Bob as crew) in the Star class. Great sailing! Also congrats goes out to Jeff Peavy and crew on Ful Dek for correcting WAY over everyone. Tough to beat a crew like that! Bob Foley and Charlie Barranco also had an excellent race coming in 2nd. They are going to be hard to keep in check next year.

You can see all the results >HERE<

Remember - Awards - Oct 17th 6 PM - more info to come.

No Races for 9/24

 Okay, I don't know about you, but I think it is going to get ugly out there on the river in a few hours. I could be wrong, but that is one big storm coming our way and it should hit between 6 and 7pm.

No fun at all. Of course, it would be no fun to go sit in the rain either.


Sorry folks - we're going to CANCEL the Wednesday Night Races for tonight. It's just not a good idea to go out there and tempt fate.

All kinds of fun next week. It's our last race of the year and the RC will be awarding the trophy for the best dressed crew! See you on the water!

Results from 9/17

Hi Everyone

Sorry, not much time today. That was a fun night of sailing for most people. Sorry for the light air.

You can see all the results >HERE<

2014 Season after 14 races

The scoring is starting to get critical. How are you doing?

See the Season after 14 races scored >HERE<

What should you check in these results? That a good question. I make mistakes all the time, so it's good to check. 

Start with your Man Overboard Drill. If you did a man overboard drill and you told me about it, you should see the first column has a "0/RDG" in it. That means you received zero points and you are set.

Next you should check out the date that you did mark boat duty. If you did mark boat with Bowie one night instead of racing, then the finish for that night should say something like "4.6/RDG". Whatever the number, that is your average race finish, so it won't hurt you in the overall scoring. If it says, "DNC", that means I didn't know you were doing mark boat.

Then you should check your finishes. Make sure I didn't mess it up. If you had a race that you didn't finish, make sure it says "DNF" so that you get scored correctly.

If you see any errors, let me know!

SMURF Results from 9/3

All these short courses are messing with us!

Congratulations again to Evil Woman and Ful Dek. Good sailing out there in the light air!

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 9/3

It's the time of year when we get dramatic sunsets (like Blew Bird looking pretty red here) and it's supposed to be the time of year when we get stronger winds. Well, one out of two isn't bad.

Congratulations go out to first place finishers: Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman in PHRF A; Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek in PHRF B; and Jim Ryan and crew in the Star class.

Glad everyone hung in there when the wind died out.

You can see all the results >HERE<

Watch the Log Canoes on the Miles River - for free (lunch included!)

Fellow sailors...

I know everyone's aware of our unique Chesapeake Bay Log Canoe fleet, and that our local MRYC is considered the fleet's home. This weekend and next (Sept 6/7, 12/13), MRYC hosts the final two weekends of racing.

As you all know, running a race requires a lot of resources - and MRYC could use some additional help.

This Saturday (2 races, 10am and 2pm starts) they need 1-2 able bodied mark boat crew members. On Sunday (1 race, 10am start), they could use a mark boat & driver, and 1-2 able bodied mark boat crew members.

If you're interested in getting out on the water and seeing these unique boats a little closer than you might usually, please contact me directly (sailinggal71@gmail.com), or Ron Weber (ronlutab@goeaston.net).

Enjoy the fall sailing season, even if it doesn't quite feel like fall today.

Regards,
Mariana

Results from 8/27

Sorry, I was busy at work and kept forgetting to post the results. Light winds were no fun, but at least we got in a race.

Congratulations to Tim and Tim and Tim's Boat for taking first in the Star class. Also doing a great job Wednesday night was Rick Morgan and crew on Evil Woman and Jeff Pevey and crew on Ful Dek.

You can see all the results >HERE<

Barging at the start

Just don't do it!

There seems to be a interpretation of the rules being shouted about at the starts on Wednesday Nights. I hear a lot of people calling for room at the signal boat at the start. The call usually goes, "the race has started now you have to give me room at the starting mark".

I'm no rules expert, but Dick Rose is a rules expert. Dick wrote an article about this specific topic. I encourage you to read it:

www.sailingworld.com/how-to/rules-starting-marks

SMURF results from 8/20

We're back to SMURF racing and the boats are grouping up. There is an occasional outlier, but most of the boats are finishing corrected to about the same time. No slacking off - those seconds count!

Congratulations to Alex Schuster and the crew of Swagman for a fast race. Looks like that non-spin paid off. Also staying in the lead was Jim Richardson and the crew of Claiborne Ferry. Good job!

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 8/20

So that double rainbow out there last night - that was all my doing!

Now I don't get as excited as some about a double rainbow
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

But it's still pretty cool! It was a great night for racing. Congrats to all of you who braved the dark clouds to come out and race. I was watching the radar pretty closely and very nervous until about 30 minutes into the race. Still - good times!

The races were very short to be sure that we were in before any storm hit, but the wind was up and boats were moving. I doubt we will have a race this fast again this summer. The first boats were done in 27 minutes with most boats finishing in about 40 minutes. Fast sailing everywhere.

Congratulations to Janet Schilling and the crew of Penniless in B class for a great job staying just ahead of Swagman who was trying to correct over them. Also congratulations to Jim Richardson and the crew of Claiborne Ferry for a minute lead corrected in A class. Also crushing with a minute lead in the Star class was Alan Campbell and Andrew Parish. Good job!

You can see all the results >HERE<

Results from 2014 Guest Skipper Night

It sure felt like fall sailing out there last night: cool temps, low humidity, and windy from the northwest. Perfect night for racing!

All that wind and a course that was mostly upwind-downwind made for a great race for Pagan to put up all 15 sails and fly. Congratulations to Bob Curry and the crew of Pagan for a very fast race just squeaking ahead of Ful Dek to win the B class.

Also racing fast was Claiborne Ferry with skipper Will Murdoch in the A class and Ninotchka with skipper Mike Keene in the Star class. Congratulations on 1st place finishes!

You can see all the results >HERE<

I don't care how cold it gets this winter as long as we continue to have great sailing like last night. Next week the races count for the season overall again. See you out there.

Season results with 11 races

We didn't get to race the Jimmy Wilson race, but we do have 11 races in so far this year.

You can see the season results >HERE<

Have you done your man overboard drill yet? Send me an email when you do. Here are some descriptions of how to do a proper man overboard drill:

Boat US version

US Coast Guard version

Some of you are visual learners, so YouTube is a great source.

This guy has a great demonstration. Note that he is teaching the figure 8 version. Also note that he uses a floating object (not a person)!

I also like this demonstration for the smaller boats (but don't use a person).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGZrK3tVCFk

or this fun one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-p8JynTpSc

2014 Jimmy Wilson race

Well, we were glassed out again!

Last night was the James H. Wilson Round the Island race and it was beautiful night out there, but the wind just couldn't hold in. We almost had a boat make it to the other side of Herring Island, but the tide was changing and soon we would see everyone drifting away.

Maybe next year, Mr. Jimmy.

Remember next week is Guest Skipper night. Find a friend to come try your boat for the evening.

Have you done your man overboard drill? Send us a note so we can mark you down as completed.

SMURF results from 7/30

Lots of good stuff for SMURF racing this week.

Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman managed to save their time and beat out Javelin for 1st.

B class had lots of mixing up, but Ful Dek held fast to their strong lead taking the SMURF finish as well.

Great fun out there. You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 7/30

Well, that was some messed up wind last night! At a certain point, we just wanted to get you racing while there was still wind at all.

Congratulations to Tom Gore and the crew of Javelin for a great race. Also congrats goes out to Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek and Will Murdoch and Carl Langkammerer on Wish. Fast sailing out there.

You can see all the results >HERE<

SMURF results from 6/23

With such a long race and the wind fading at the end, we didn't see a lot of change up with the SMURF classes. There was some, though.

Congratulations to Jim Richardson and the crew of Claiborne Ferry and to Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek. Both boats were able to hold on to strong finishes with their corrections.

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 6/23

Somehow we are getting good winds all the way into July! The race last night was just about as good as you can get in Maryland for late July: not too hot, good wind, storms stayed away until much later.

Of course, that doesn't mean I remembered to charge the batteries for the video camera. Fun sailing, but no visual record. I'm looking at the camera sitting in the charger right now. Maybe I'll have better luck next week.

Congratulations to Jim Richardson and the crew of Claiborne Ferry for a very fast sail - they got the gun and finished way ahead of the competition. Also Congrats to Jim Ryan and crew on Ninotchka and Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek for a fast night.

With August just days away, let's hope for some good wind on Wednesdays!

You can see all the results >HERE<

SMURF Results 7/16

The long course Wednesday night meant more time allowances and more mixing it up in the SMURF results.

Very exciting in the A class. Congratulations to Jim Richardson and the crew of Claiborne Ferry for coming in first by 4 seconds! Actually, the A class is very tight for this race. There is only 43 seconds separating first from 4th. That's closer than the Stars racing one design.

Janet Shilling and the crew of Penniless had a great night too coming in first by almost 2 minutes corrected. Congratulations for the fast sailing! Fortunately for the rest of the class, subtracting 6 seconds off the SMURF rating for Penniless will bring her back within striking distance.

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Always good fun out there. I hope you're enjoying the good weather!

Results from 7/16

It's back!

After several months and just about as many harrowing experiences, our friends in the Coast Guard replaced the broken-off marker green day marker "5" (better known to us Miles River people as Gibson Flats).

Very spiffy even if not completely centered. Certainly very functional. Let's hope the ice has a harder time with this one.

So how about that weather last night! We're not going to get a night of cool sailing for a while, so soak it up. The winds started quite gusty from the NW with all kinds of shifts. Wind speeds were all over the place as the race went on. We had winds from 1 knot to 13 knots, but temperatures were under 80º all evening.

Congratulations to all our regulars: Tom Gore and the crew of Javelin, Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek, and Will Murdoch and Carl Langkammerer on Wish. Good sailing in the changing air.

You can see all the results from the evening >HERE<

Calling all photos!

I know there are lots of budding photographers out there with us on the water each night. Do you have some photos of Wednesday Night Racing that you would like to share?

If you burn them on a CD and give them to me, I'll post them for you.

If you want to try posting them yourself, shoot me an email. I'll give you the instructions!

2014 after 8 races

Well, we have 8 races completed so far. Let's make sure we're scoring this correctly.

>HERE< is the season so far.

What could I have messed up?

Well, your place. Did I get your finish correct for each race? I double-check, but sometimes I can miss a boat in the transcribing.

How about when you did mark boat. If you did mark boat on a particular night (and I knew you were doing it), I marked you down as "AVG/?.?" for the night. The actual score will change over the season to remain your average score. Glad the software does this one for me!

Did you do your Man Overboard drill? It can be hard for us to hear what you are yelling at us on the course. You can always send me an email to tell me when you did your man overboard drill. You will notice that you get a DNC until you report doing your man overboard drill. Once reported to me, it goes to zero points.

Do those Man Overboard drills and let me know when they are done. This is so important for your crew's safety and your score!

There are some other weird scoring things you might see. For one, we don't really know who will register for the season until we know who has 4 races or more. You might see some competitors with 1 or 2 races who will disappear once we know for sure that they are not registering. It all works out in the long run.

Have fun over the 4th!

SMURF Results from 7/2

No change in the A class (congrats again to Javelin), but lots of moves in the B class!

Congratulations to Jeep Jallade and the crew of Moonraker for a great finish! They had a very fast night and finished more than 1:40 ahead of everyone.

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 7/2

Storms to the north of us - storms to the south...

But fortunately there was plenty of good wind and fun sailing in St Michaels last night. The good old trusty weather radar kept us up-to-date with the storms, so we were able to sail. We were able to follow the storms all night.

Strong winds made for lots of fun planing out there last night. Congratulations to David and Jeff Cox in the Star Mischief for a win last night as well as Tom Gore and the crew of Javelin, and Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek.

You can see all the results >HERE<

SMURF Results from 6/25

Lots of fun in the SMURF ratings last night! Congratulations to Claiborne Ferry who had an excellent night last night just leaving the A class in the dust and Pagan who equally tromped on the B class.

It was a great night for the bigger boats who could throw up lots of sail area. It will be interesting to see what happens when the summer winds die out and we have shorter courses. Maneuverability will become king.

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 6/25

It was a little on the hot side last night and we were a little short-handed on the committee boat, but there was plenty of wind for a nice race out there! The PHRF boats were able to get in a nice 6.24 mile race with a nice spinnaker run down the course. A little shorter for the Stars, but that's okay.

Congratulations to Tim Paris and Tim Godlee on Tim's Boat for a great race in the Star class. We also saw the return of Javelin to the PHRF A class with Tom Gore skippering. Great job with a first place finish. Also congratulations to Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek for a first in PHRF B.

You can see all the results >HERE<

John MacCausland dinner 6/27

You’re Invited

Friday June 27, 6:00 pm
Jr. Sail Summer Dinner

with Guest Speaker
John MacCausland

John’s Sailing Highlights

• Winner 2013 Star Worlds Championship
• Winner of 19 East Coast Championships
• Winner of 6 North American Championships
• Crewed for Dennis Connor on America’s Cup winner, Stars and Stripes in 1987
• Nominated for US Sailing’s Rolex, Yachtsman of the Year award

Dinner Buffet
$25.00 Adults
$10.00 Kids

Reserve your spot by emailing monica.penwell@longandfoster.com

SMURF Results 6/18

The finishes using the SMURF ratings last night reflected that the wind was dying out as the boats were finishing. Still there was some good mixing up.

Congratulations to Rick Moran and the crew of Evil Woman as well as Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Deck for finishing first in SMURF. Jeep Jallade and the crew of Moonraker also had a good night coming in second!

You can see all the SMURF results >HERE<

Results from 6/18

It was a nice night when we started. Okay it was actually very hot, but at least the wind was blowing - at the start.

Set up a nice long course, watched the wind get squirrelly just before the start like it always does, and then sent everyone off to race the Miles River. The nice wind that we had in the harbor apparently did not work its way down to Oak Creek. Slowly, the evening turned into a drifter.

The Stars managed to finish just as the wind was dropping out in the harbor. Congratulations to Will Murdoch and Carl Langkammerer on Wish for a break-away finish. In the dying winds, we shortened course for the PHRF boats to Deep Water Point. Coming in first for PHRF A was Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman and finishing first in PHRF B was Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek. Congratulations to everyone for fast sailing in light air and strong currents!

By the end of the night, there was not a breath of air left on the water.

You can see all the results >HERE<

SMURF results for 6/11

So who was crushing it in the SMURF ratings this week?

That would be Alex Schuster and the crew of Swagman for correcting first by more than 1:44 minutes! That's pretty fast. I guess Swagman likes a windy night. A class didn't change up, so the winner of A was Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman.

Check out all the results >HERE<

Do you know your current SMURF rating? Here they are:

Sail Number	boat name	current SMURF Rating
52	Ful Dek	141
102	Red Dog	210
181	Hinesight	141
543	Rosswork	150
687	Moonraker	207
1113	Taaris	240
1144	Blew Bird	111
1322	Evil Woman	129
2213	Flyer	120
23743	Claiborne Ferry	156
83233	Pagan	162
83346	Peniless	174
93259	Swagman	207

Results from 6/11

Oops! Here it is Friday and I need to tell you the results from Wednesday.

The weather reports were saying that the atmosphere was "unsettled". It sure seemed like that to us. They were calling for 7-10 knots with rain coming about 9 pm. They were right on the 9 pm for rain, but man did we have wind! Most of the evening we had 18-20 from the east.

Most everyone had a great time flying around in the heavier air. Sorry you didn't have a good night, Jeff.

It turns out that there is something out there in the water near the Gibson's Flats (G "5"). I don't know what it is, but Jeff found it with the bottom of his boat. I guess we won't be using the B mark for a while.

Congratulations to Tim and Tim on Tim's Boat for an excellent finish despite some theatrics on the course (the video of the finish is exciting!). Also doing an excellent job was Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek and Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman for solid finishes in their classes.

You can see all the results >HERE<

2014 Mark Boat Duty Assignments and Outstanding Registrations

The RC officially entitled last week's racing "Still Life with Star Boats." Hopefully this week the winds will be more favorable.

As I warned a couple of weeks ago, mark boat assignments have been made. You should have received an email with your assigned date. You can also view the entire schedule at this link. Please write your assigned date down somewhere! For those with SEPTEMBER assignments, remember we start 20 minutes earlier.

Mark boat duties are straightforward: Bowie Rose is generous to provide a boat and a driver. As mark boat crew, you need to get to MRYC with enough time to get the equipment out of the shed (do NOT inflate the marks!), put the equipment on the mark boat, cast off dock lines, inflate marks on the way out, and set marks under the guidance of the RC and Bowie. In exchange, you get a great view of the starts and mark roundings! Bowie leaves the dock by 5:15pm (20 minutes earlier in September!), so please plan accordingly.

At this point only the last 2 weeks remain open and available. Hopefully we can get a couple more boats racing and have them cover, if not, we'll hope someone will take a second turn (a WNR hat for those!), maybe someone who ended up just going out for a boat ride which ended in a cancelled race (like last week - hint hint).

We have some outstanding registrations (Pagan?, Ninotchka?, Mischief?, Hinesight?).

Registration is easy. You can find registration forms on page 3 (PHRF) and page 4 (Star) of the Notice of Race. Print the one that's applicable to your boat, fill it out, and mail it to WNR at the address below with a check for $50 (made out to St. Michaels Wednesday Night Racing). If you want to save yourself postage, give your completed registration form and $50 fee to an RC member at MRYC on Wednesday night after the races.

See you on the water!

St. Michaels Wednesday Night Racing
215 S Hanson St
Easton, MD 21601

SMURF Results from 5/28

Well A class stayed the same. Not surprising since Claiborne Ferry had such a good race.

B Class on the other hand! Looks like that big wind really favored the bigger boats! Congratulations to Janet Schilling and the crew of Penniless. Their near-win for the PHRF races translated into a big win in the SMURF ratings!

Big changes for B class. Check out all the results here:

SMURF RESULTS

Results from 5/28

Glassy? Absolutely not!

It certainly looked like a night where we would just drift around until a storm hit. Patience helps, though! Just ten minutes before the start, the wind filled in to about 18 knots across the course. I was still concerned that the storms would spoil the evening, so the races were short.

Congratulations to Jim Richardson and the crew of Claiborne Ferry for a fast race coming across first in A class as well as Bob Larsen and the crew of Blew Bird coming in first in the B class. Pennyless also had a fast race coming in 2nd by only 4.5 seconds. Congratulations also goes to Patrick Penwell and crew John Jenkins on Jade for winning the Star class.

To see all the results, check them out here:

RESULTS

2014 Mark Boat crew needed!

Hello everyone!

I hear reports that the racing has been going well so far, for which we're grateful to our race committee as well as our mark boat.

As with other years, every boat is expected to help out by providing at least 1 able-bodied seaperson to help on the mark boat. Bowie Rose is generous to provide a boat and a driver, but WNR needs to provide the crew. Duties include getting to MRYC in time to get the equipment out of the shed, putting the equipment on the mark boat, casting off dock lines, inflating marks on the way out, and setting them under the guidance of the RC and Bowie. In exchange, you get a great view of the starts and mark roundings! Then, reverse the process after it's all over.

Follow this link to sign up for at least one Weds. It's very simple - select the date you want and click "submit" at the bottom. You'll have to provide your name and your email address. If you have any trouble, email me directly (sailinggal71@gmail.com) and I'll get you signed up.

Taaris, L'il Buddy, and Hinesight have already volunteered. Penniless and Swagman have already signed up. After this week, I will be assigning boats to crew duty, so take advantage of the time to pick your preferred date!

Thanks,
Mariana

PS - we desperately need someone for tomorrow, Weds May 28. If you can do it, please email me directly.

Race 3 Video

With impending storms and questionable winds, we had to make the race really short. Even short, people didn't make it back in without catching some rain.The camera isn't waterproof, so we had to cut the end short. Sorry about that. Trust me - there were some great finishes!

SMURF Results 5/21

The results with the SMURF ratings are in.

As you might suspect on a night with a really short course, the results are about the same. You can see all the results here:

SMURF RESULTS

Results from 5/21

Looks like rain... I think it's going to rain... Let's go racing!

Well, despite my own pessimism, we actually did some racing last night! We made the course as short as possible so that we could get back in before it rained, but it rained on us anyway. I'm sure we'll see sun some Wednesday evening.

Congratulations to Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman. They are certainly starting out the season well three bullets. Also an excellent job Bob Bradford and crew Corbin Penwell on Maddie in the Star class as well as Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek.

You can see all the results here:

RESULTS

Video from 5/14

Hi Everyone,

Here is the video from the races on 5/14.

You know the point in the video you want to find - Have fun!

SMURF Results from 5/14

The results for our second rating system are in. Not too much shaking up in the classes.

Congratulations to Janet Schilling and her crew on Penniless for a great race. They came in 2nd after the corrected times. No simple feat with the strange winds last night.

See all the results here:

SMURF Results

Results from 5/14

Well, that was some pretty shifty wind last night! It was just all over the place down at the committee boat.

Congratulations to Patrick Penwell driving John Jenkins boat Jade for a first place finish in the Stars. Also congratulations to Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman for a great race and Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek for squeaking out a win.

You can see all the results here:

RESULTS

Helping a fellow sailor in need

Friends, below from John Yorkilous... if you can help, please contact him directly.

Hello all St. Michaels sailors. 

Our dear friend and crew member on many of our boats, Mary Yancey, is in need of our help.  Mary was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  Mary, as many of you know, has been active in sailing in this area for many years. She is a nurse and if you recall was a first responder during Si Boetner’s incident.

Mary in undergoing Chemotherapy for the next 12 weeks.  I spoke to her today and told me she was in need of a reclining chair.  I am going to check out Salvation Army and Restore in Easton and Cambridge, as well as some of the consignment stores...  If any one of you has a recliner that you can LEND Mary (she only needs one for 8-12 weeks) please let me know.

One great thing about this area is that we all come together in times of need

If anyone can help let me know.

Coordinate through me

John Yorkilous

jyork@atlanticbb.net

410-819-7878

Video from 5/7

Here it is - the video from the May 7th race.

http://youtu.be/KeD3VwhpbVg

We still haven't figured out how to do the sound. There is a lot less wind noise, but you get the hear the camera now. I might get creative for next week.

Fun video, though. It looks much colder than it was. Lots of people bundled up.

You can see all the videos we've made at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/marshall21663

Or you can use the sidebar over on the right to find recent videos -->

Revision for 5/7

Oops! Well, I guess we're trying to get back up to speed on the committee boat too. I forgot to score Swagman as racing non-spinnaker.

>HERE< are the revised results. That helps a bit.

We should be back in racing form for next week!

SMURF results for 5/7

The SMURF results are out for all you PHRF racers.

You can get the results >here<.

Congrats once again to Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman for an impressive night. The SMURF Results show that Jeep Jallade and the crew of Moonraker also had an excellent night!

So now what will happen to their ratings? Evil Woman came in 1st out of 4 boats, so she will have 3 points subtracted from her SMURF rating. Moonraker finished 1st out of 7 boats, so they she will have 6 points subtracted from her rating. Pagan was fast Wednesday night too coming in 2nd, so she will have 3 points subtracted from her rating. All these boats will have a harder time winning next week giving other competitors a chance.

Remember that >this< is how the SMURF Ratings work.

Register using the NOR

Only a few people have registered so far. That's okay. We allow everyone to sail three times before we require registration.

But you should still register!

The forms are all in the Notice of Race. Just download the Notice of Race, print the form that is right for you (Stars use the Star form - PHRF racers use the PHRF form), and send it in! $50 a boat. 

The address is easy:

St. Michaels Wednesday Night Racing 

215 S Hanson St 

Easton, MD 21601

Get the NOR >here<.   Do it today!

Results from 5/7

I was thinking that the rains and the colder weather might make it a miserable night for sailing, but I was completely wrong! It was really nice out there on the water.

Congratulations to Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman for a first place finish in PHRF A, Jeff Pevey and the crew of Ful Dek for first place in PHRF B, and Jim Ryan and crew Don Elliott on Ninotchka who won the Star Class.

You can see all the results for the week >HERE<

Ready to Sail?

So is your boat all ready to sail?

The first race is only 24 hours away! It's time to put some duct tape on that project and come out to sail.

The Race Committee will be out there on the water from about 5:15 on. You can hear our communications on channel 78. We will have an attention signal at 6:04 pm followed by the warning for the Star class at 6:05 pm.

If you need sailing instructions, you can get them >here<

Lots of fun. Hope we see you out there!

The SIs are out

It's almost time to go racing!

The Sailing Instructions are available for you to download by clicking HERE.

Make sure you understand the instructions and how they change the racing rules. What should you know for this year?

• Do your Man Overboard Drill
• Know the special race dates
• Know when you start!
• Keep clear of others starting

Any questions? You can post them here.

It should be a lot of fun. See you out there in two weeks exactly!

Spiffy Course Sheet!

You know the Skippers Meeting is coming up on Wednesday the 23rd, 6pm at MRYC. So, why should you attend?

Sure you could come just to hang out with your friends while you register for the season, but why else? Could it be to harass Bob Flower and Jeep Jallade while enjoying a beverage? Sure! Could it be to find out who worked on their boat all winter and hopes to leave you in the dust? Of course! Could it be to ask questions about this crazy series and get the SI? Absolutely! Can you just come to find out the new boats and which crew decided to jump ship? That's fine too.

The real reason to come to the Skippers Meeting is to get your spiffy laminated copy of the course chart and flags. It's a cheat sheet specifically designed for you the Wednesday Night Racer.

Spiffy laminated cheat sheets, Instructions, gossip, beverages - Like you had something more important to do. See you Wednesday!

TAYA's annual race coming up

It's time for the 2nd Annual 

TAYA Race 'Round the Island

Saturday, May 3rd! Captain's meeting at 9:00am; race begins at 10:00am leaving from Tilghman on the Chesapeake Yacht Club and Marina. Courtesy slips are available the night before and night of the race. An After-Party will include food, music and awards back at the clubhouse. Boat/Captain registration is $50 which includes all festivities. Crew and Spectator registration for the After-Party is $10. The money raised will be used for enrichment programs for our Tilghman area youth.
For more information or to register go to www.tilghmantaya.com or mailtotaya501@verizon.net.

2013 SMURF Results

Are you wondering how you did last year using the SMURF handicapping system?

Well, that's easy! You can get the results HERE.

Congratulations to Rick Morgan and the crew of Evil Woman who won the smurf A division as well as Norm Brown and his crew on Pagan who won the smurf B division. You all did an awesome job of consistent quality racing to pull off a win for the smurf trophies.

Note that in each class there was only two points different between the first and second placed boats in the smurf divisions. Only 10 points separate the first 5 boats in the B division. That means there is plenty of opportunity to move up. If every race you figure out how to shave 3 seconds off your finish, you will demolish the smurf divisions!

SUMRF for the PHRF classes

It's never really possible to leave well enough alone. If you can mess with something, why not mess with it? Hence we have SMURF, or the Saint Michaels Unifying Rating Formula.

So what do you need to know as an average PHRF racer at the start on a Wednesday Night? Well, the main thing to remember is that this is for fun.

Yes, we will still be doing all the normal trophies for finishing 1st, 2rd, 3rd, etc., for each of the PHRF classes. Besides that, we are going to rate the boats using SMURF.  This should provide more opportunities to win trophies and definitely definitely gives you an idea if you had a good night, or not so good.

How does it work? HERE is the description.

What is your score today? Check it out:

Sail Number	boat name	current SMURF Rating
26	Colgate 26	204
36	Javelin	99
52	Ful Dek	150
97	Viper 640	114
102	Red Dog	207
181	Hinesight	138
543	Salt	144
589	Knave	324
687	Moonraker	216
906	SJ21	285
1113	Taaris	240
1144	Blew Bird	102
1247	Allcutt	273
1322	Evil Woman	135
2213	Flyer	120
23743	Claiborne Ferry	156
40612	Phone	69
42064	Mooncusser	138
42138	Victorine	174
53591	Ostiato	90
73075	Redbeard	111
83116	Resolute	183
83233	Pagan	159
83346	Peniless	174
93259	Swagman	207
93573	Chien Deux	237

2014 Notice of Race

Here it is!  It's the Notice of Race.

Pick it up HERE

What do you need to know?

• Skippers Meeting April 23, 6pm, MRYC
• First race May 7th
• Do your Man Over Board drill!

This is the last post that goes to Yahoo!. Embrace this new website because it is the Official Notice Board for St Michaels Wednesday Night Racing. That means any official communications for racers will be posted here and you are expected to know about official communications.

Here is the website:

http://sm-wnr.blogspot.com/

Want to be sure you are receiving all the posts on the website? Sign up here:

http://eepurl.com/NmTXb

Two weeks to the skippers meeting!

Barging at the Start

You know, we see a lot of barging at the start. Crazy amounts of barging! Being so close to the water on Volunteer, barging makes us very nervous. I mean, where would we go if a big boat decided to plant itself right into the committee boat?

So are you a barger? Do you know the rules about barging?

Look To Windward did a great series on the rules relating to barging. Check it out here:

http://rrsstudy.blogspot.nl/2014/03/back-to-basics-part-4-barging-i.html

It's time for a change

After many years of reliable email updates about Wednesday Night Racing from Yahoo!, we are moving on. Yahoo! was great, but they decided that I can no longer add email addresses. That's no good.

So it's time to move to a new system - one that will still meet all our needs and maybe even add some new features!

It's Blogger from Google:

http://sm-wnr.blogspot.com/

When we have updates that I would normally send you, they will now be posted at the website. Just after that the site will send you an email with a link to the new information. It's almost the same as before except:

• Now anyone can go to the website and see the updates
• Anyone can easily sign up to receive emails
• Everyone can manage emails through any email they receive
• There are new ways to share photos and videos

It should be a fun change. You know it will be fun! Come on, embrace the change - it's going to be great!

You will get this email both from Yahoo! and from the new site. Check out the difference.

Sailboat Performance 101

Sailboat Performance 101
How to (Legally) Make Your Boat Faster

Frank DeBord

Do you know how to maximize your boat speed in all conditions?   To achieve this you have to understand the wind and water forces acting on it, and how your actions can change these forces. This presentation is a practical discussion of things you can do to make your boat faster. It discusses the forces acting on any racing yacht and then provides specific actions you can take to legally improve your boat speed. Examples are given for a typical racer/cruiser, a sport boat and a Star.

Frank DeBord is a Naval Architect with more than 35 years of experience analyzing racing yacht performance, including performance optimization for eight America’s Cup defenders and challengers, two Volvo Race syndicates and more than 20 Grand Prix ocean racers.   Projects have included course record holders for the Newport to Bermuda, Transpac and Sydney Hobart races. 

Sail Committee Speaker Series
Thursday February 6, 6:00pm at MRYC

Reservations Required 410-745-9511

Time for a Reset

Sometimes technology and service providers just don't like to play along with the program that you set out. I think we have come to that point with Yahoo.

Normally people like to receive official emails from our official notice board for Wednesday Night Racing. I'm happy to do that, but there are so many people! Using Yahoo groups was great because I could manage the big email list using simple tools and they would handle sending all the emails. Well, no longer. Yahoo doesn't want me to manage the email addresses anymore.

So what's a poor Race Committee person to do?

We're switching up to Blogger and Mailchimp to handle our little official group here! It should be very exciting. There will be lots of new ways for people to get information. I think you will like it. More to come as we transition over.

Marshall